Gaye Morris Smith was appointed executive director of Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) in 2001. A public/private nonprofit created and funded by the state and private sector, GaFCP connects local, state and national partners in their efforts to ensure that kids in Georgia are healthy, ready to start school and do well when they get there, and that families are stable and self-sufficient.

Under Gaye's leadership:

• The Annie E. Casey Foundation designates GaFCP as Georgia’s KIDS COUNT grantee. 
• The Brookings Institution presents GaFCP with an international Innovation Award for programs that effectively use information to drive change in their communities. 
• American Journal of Community Psychology publishes the GaFCP evaluation team's studies.

Gaye regularly educates leaders, legislators, funders, and practitioners on the value of collaboration in driving community improvement, the significance of measuring and communicating results, and effective techniques for engaging partners.

Grantmakers for Children and Youth invited her to Washington D.C. in 2009 to participate on a panel before a group of national foundations. She presented the state and community perspective on effective ways to support communities and nonprofits in cooperation with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In 2010 the American Society for Public Administration named Gaye Public Administrator of the Year. In 2008 she received the Georgia General Assembly’s Legislative Services Award for her work on behalf of children, families, and communities.

Before coming to GaFCP, Gaye served as president/CEO of Parent and Child Development Services Inc., in Chatham and Effingham counties. While in Savannah she was a consultant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Making Connections Initiative, and served as interim executive director for the Chatham-Savannah Youth Futures Authority, a community-based collaborative organization. Gaye began her career in social services with the United Way of the Coastal Empire, where she was vice president of Planning and Allocations.

Gaye serves on the boards of:

• Voices for Georgia's Children,
• Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education
• Truancy Intervention Project, and
• Georgia Meth Project.

She also is a member of the Advisory Board for the RAND Corporation's Promising Practices Network.

Born and raised in Athens, Gaye received a bachelor's degree in business administration from North Georgia College and State University, Dahlonega, and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Georgia, Athens.